Fellow blogger Dana Blankenhorn has stirred up some controversy with his suggestion on how to share unused router bandwidth to create a do-it-yourself Wifi cloud. I want to talk a personal WiFi of a different sort and that is Verizon’s new MiFi mobile hotspot which I’ve had the chance to use for a week and review in depth.
I like Dana’s proposal to share, but as we know WiFi networks come and go in seconds when you’re moving down the highway. So Verizon has come out the 3G broadband WiFi bridge known as MiFi. The mobile connection is enabled through Verizon’s 3G network which can then be divvied up into as many as five Wifi connections for nearby users. The device is the size of eight stacked credit cards.
MiFi has two downsides: It’s slow with bursts of up to 1.4 Mbps and a usual speed of around 500 Kbps. Split that up between five connections and to the user, it’s dial-up deja vu all over again. The other is price. The device will set you back $99 plus $60 a month over the required two-year service agreement. I’d pay maybe half that.
C’mon Verizon, Sprint and AT&T! You need to compete, not match each other’s price and esentially collude.
I miss the review unit and there’s no doubt we need Internet everywhere to work, but right now it is a passable but imperfect technology and far too pricey . Check out my MiFi review which is accompanied by a lively companion piece by another author who opted against MiFi for his elderly parents.
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John Dodge was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet from 2009 to 2010.
Contributing Editor, Technology
John Dodge has written for the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, PC Week (now eWeek), EDN, Design News, Electronic Business, Bio-IT World, Health-IT World, Lowell Sun, Haverhill Gazette and Newburyport Daily News. He is based in Massachusetts.
John Dodge prides himself on completely independent journalism. His opinions, observations and reporting are not influenced by any financial holdings. He holds no shares in computer, electronics, software or Internet companies. He also has no business affiliations with organizations except with those for which he creates content as a freelancer.
He writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.
